10/1/21

The start of October was a busy one for the kids in A303. The fifth graders completed their reading pre-assessment during our ELA black this morning. Now that this is complete, we can kick off our realistic fiction book groups next week. The kids are eager to start reading.

We also played a multiplication compare game during math class. The students used various strategies to help them solve problems and then kept track of the results on their recording sheets. They finished up the math session by working on two workbook pages.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

9/30/21

The last day of September saw the fifth graders continuing their work with different multiplication strategies. Today's work was a continuation of yesterday's lesson. The kids are doing a nice job with this important content.

We also spent some time working on a writing pre assessment that had the kids read a short story and watch a short video and then write about watch they watched/read. This is a valuable piece of work that will serve to track the progress that the kids are making in ELA over the course of the school year.

9/29/21

We dug deep into the short story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros during our writing time today. As part of our literary writing unit, the kids are going to be exposed to a wide range of short stories. This piece by Rylant served as a nice example of the type of digging the kids are going to have to do to pull out author's intent and theme. The kids completed a graphic organizer and then did a quick write pertaining to the main idea of the story. 

If anyone is curious, this was the piece we read:

https://www.schuylkillvalley.org/cms/lib/PA02000850/Centricity/Domain/164/TEXT%20Eleven%20by%20Sandra%20Cisneros.pdf

9/28/21

As we move into the next session of unit one in math class, the fifth graders are going to start exploring different methods for solving multiplication problems. Today's lesson was a nice start in that direction. The kids looked to solve two digit by two digit problems. Lots of quality work happened in the classroom today.

We are also going to be starting our first reading book groups this week. The students learned who was in their groups this morning and they also learned which realistic fiction book they will be reading. 

9/27/21

This week will be a significant week for our first writing unit. After working with the short video last week, we are going to be turning our attention to a collection of short stories. These stories will serve as the fodder for the literary essays that the kids will be composing over the next few weeks. Today, the class looked at one story in particular, while I modeled looking for author's intent and main idea points. The kids were invested throughout. 

We also are going to be starting our first book groups very soon. Students will be working together to explore realistic fiction texts. The fifth graders are eager to begin collaborating together. 

Some of the students received a new copy of the emergency information forms. Please return this to the school as soon as possible, if you child brings this home today. They are important documents for the school to have on hand in the office.

9/24/21

We concluded our first full week together by taking part in an informative writing lesson. This literary essay themed lesson saw the kids exploring the Thai youth soccer team in Panyee. After watching a short video, during which the kids were jotting down notes, small groups looked to respond to focus questions that delved into the theme of the story.

Here is the video, in case anyone was interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU

The fifth graders did a nice job with this work. 

We also took our first math quiz during the earlier stages of the school day. This order of operation assessment will gauge how the kids are understanding our first few lessons.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

9/23/21

We spent one more full lesson exploring order of operation problems during math class. This was in preparation for our first math quiz of the year, which we will have tomorrow. 

After having our pictures taken earlier in the school day, we also undertook an interesting free write idea called a "scar map". This activity served as a good way for the kids to gather ideas for potential personal narrative stories. The kids also enjoyed sharing their ideas with a friend later in the period. 

Tomorrow, we are going to explore an interesting youth soccer team that will tie into our larger literary writing unit.